After spending days traipsing around in the country, we headed to Dublin to bebop around the city. We had a concert to attend the day after arriving in Dublin, so we had to get all the sightseeing done in one day, which was tiring but awesome. We popped into museums, learned about monuments and facts about the city on the hop-on-hop-off bus and explored shops and bakeries.
Of course we toured the Guinness brewery where Dusty left VERY happy after taking his, Michelle's, and my complimentary glasses of Guinness. Michelle sipped her's to say she did it, and so did I, but handed them over to Dusty as soon as we could. These were full glasses too, not just little samples! We had the best view as the bar is at the top of the tower, so we were able to look out over the whole city while we sipped our brews. The actual tour was very informative, especially because I like learning about how things are made. I feel like I appreciate the drink (or whatever the end product it) more after the tour, even though I couldn't drink much of it. We also went to the Jameson distillery, which was more up my alley. The process here was also cool to learn about and they had a few interactive exhibits during the tour that were a nice touch. While on the tour we went in the tasting room where we were all given samples of their different products to try while they explained each one. After the tour we also received one complimentary drink, I think we all picked the Jameson and ginger, and they were the perfect ratio which is pretty awesome considering it was free.
That night we ate some good food at Scotch Bonnet and had a good night's sleep at one of the hotels in town. In the morning we had a delicious meal, provided by the hotel, and then were off to Malahide Castle to wait in line to see Gorillaz. We went early (around 9am I believe) so we had better chances of getting the rail, but there were already a few people there! Turns out some of them had been following the whole UK leg of their tour while others were from the US like us. We had all purchased staggered entrance times for the castle and its grounds as a way to pass the time while we waited in for the gates to open, but by the time sound check was going on, none of us wanted to leave, so we never actually got to see the castle, except from the grounds outside. Dusty left about halfway through our wait to get us some lunch and found a pub where they make their own bangers and mash, we were all onboard for that. I really wish we could have taken our tie to eat and enjoy that meal because it was ridiculously good! But by the time Dusty got back, they were starting to get us all ready to be let in and we had to eat it fast. The concert was amazing and we got back super late to the most uncomfortable bed I'm ever had the "privilege" of sleeping on. It was a lumpy pull out bed with the lamest pillows and the absolute worst mattress. If I recall I think we even had to call down to get a blanket for it because even though they new someone would be sleeping on this bed, they didn't provide a blanket.
That was Dusty and Michelle's last day in Ireland, I stayed a day longer on my own to explore Belfast and Northern Ireland on a tour. One of the few places I really wanted to see in Ireland was the Giant's Causeway, but it was too far from us to make a drive up there, so I figured this tour was my best option. So I had a ridiculously early morning after a crummy night of sleep, where I grabbed Ireland's equivalent of an Uber/Lyft to get to the center of Dublin. From there my tour bus picked us up and we were on our way north. We made a few other stops on our way up to Giant's causeway including the dark hedges, which were used in the Game of Thrones series as the set for the King's Road in Season 2.
The big winner of the whole tour for me was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and the surrounding location. I was terrified to do this thing- a rope bridge suspended a whopping 75 feet from the water where it swayed with the breeze, moving and bouncing to the pace of it's travelers. I have a huge fear of heights and I was all by myself for this. Originally I wasn't even going to do it, but I was so proud that I did. The view from the bridge was stunning as was the view when you set foot back on land at the end of the bridge. Spanning as far as I could see was water, with Scotland and Rathlin Island visible on the horizon due to the tremendous weather. We only had an hour here, which I felt was not nearly enough time. I felt rushed to get to the bridge (a hike in itself), get across it, and then back to the bus. Turns out I did it too quick in my worry, so I got to explore the surrounding land, finding some ruins and a nice sunny spot to sit for just a little bit and look out at the water. I would have loved to spend another hour here at least, taking my time and exploring a bit and it's somewhere I would like to go back to if I ever make the trip to Ireland again.
Then there was the Giant's causeway. Large, hexagonal basalt columns raised up from the ground at varying heights, but all the same size around. It was wild to look at. The walk down (and inevitably back up) was so long which wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't been so constrained for time. I had to judge the best time to start making my way back up and also reserve a little time for the giftshop and the inside exhibits. But for some reason I was let down by this stop. I think the adrenaline and the huge payoff from the Carrick-A-Rede bride being right before this, killed the excitement for this stop for me. I would also like to go back here and explore more when I don't have such a tight time constraint.
Lastly, we ended with an hour tour in Belfast which was...okay. I was absolutely exhausted by this point and just wasn't interested in walking around the city, but did it anyway. I ended up buying a ton of goodies from ice cream to candy and cakes. All of these little pastry shops and bakeries with their enticing confections in their window displays. Ugh. Gets me every time! I wish I had, had more energy to bop around because there were some interesting monuments and buildings that I would have liked to spend more time at.
Finally returning to Dublin, I stayed in my only bad Airbnb experience so far and it was only bad because he had forgotten to fill his gas card which meant no hot water for a shower. After a day of hiking, climbing, a bit of an anxiety attack at the bridge, sweating, and just being in the sun, I was so ready for a hot shower and then bed. I think I may have cried, just a bit, out of frustration when I got in that ice cold shower. I was not a happy camper. The next day I walked to a nearby hotel to catch their shuttle bus to the airport (also the only day it decided to rain) and then was on my way back to Rochester!
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